


Leave before the lights come on

by prettybird



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-09
Updated: 2011-03-09
Packaged: 2017-10-16 19:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettybird/pseuds/prettybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steph always leaves before Tam wakes up</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leave before the lights come on

**Author's Note:**

> I said once that I thought this pairing should be thing. Well, I offer this humble fic to anyone who may think the same. I apologize for any spelling mistakes or characterization that might feel off - I don't have lot of experience with Steph or Tam.

Steph always leaves before Tam wakes up, and there is never any trace that she was ever there (she is Batgirl,after all) other than, sometimes, the breakfast that is downstairs, along with a note that says “Waffles!”.

Tam never complains about it, and Steph doesn't know what that says about them.

 

Steph hits her toe on a table once, trying to leave the dark room, and the loud curse leaves her lips before she can do anything about it.

Tam jumps out of bed (it's something that comes from her previous experience of dating a superhero, and a part of her hates Tim for this reflexes), and Steph can't think of anything to say, unable to explain herself.

“ What the hell?” She asks, confused, still scared.

“I hit a table. I took care of it, but I think it might be working for a bigger fish. Maybe a closet”

There is a moment of awkward silence, as they both become aware of what exactly is going on, and the atmosfere is suddenly tense, like if someone said the wrong thing now, everything could fall apart.

“ I have to go now. You know, Bat stuff. Gotham needs saving.” Steph mutters, but doesn't look into her eyes.

It's a lie, a painfully obvious one, and they both know it.

“Ok.” Tam is trying to calm down, looking at the floor and taking long breaths.

“You know how that goes. You are not mad, are you?”

“No. Just...” Tam raises her eyes and Steph wishes there was something she could do anything to make that expression of worry leave her face. “I'm always here,you know?”

She almost says that she is always there too, but it's not true. She wasn't there for Cass, she wasn't there for Tim (but then again Tim wasn't there for her), and it's like regardless of how many people she saves, there is always someone slipping away from her.

She just hopes it's not Tam this time.

 

They go out with Dick and Damian. To the zoo. It's complicated, but it involves a murder, a rhino and graffiti.

The little devil is actually pleasant to Tam (in the sense that he says that Tam only dates people who are beneath her) and she doesn't seem to mind him.

Dick is as charming as ever, and apparently, finds this whole deal (is “deal” a bad word to describe your relationship? Probably) very amusing.

“Have you talked to Tim about it?” He asks Steph, when Tam drags Damian to see the elephants.

She shrugs.

“Not really. It's none of his bussiness.”

“Of course. I just wanted to know what was the look on his face.” He laughs. “I've told him that he if didn't treat his girlfriends right, they would find someone else. I didn't expect to be each other.”

She is glad Dick is this nice, all smiles and sympathy. Not a lot of people know about them and it's a good change from the usual reactions of surprise and the subtle disappointment that follows.

“You are lucky, Steph. You both are.” He says, and adds. “I'm happy for you.”

She doesn't reply, and watches as Damian and Tam come back, carrying strawberry ice cream. It's one the few times that the boy looks like a normal child instead of a tiny angry Batman; and she realizes that it was Tam that made Damian smile.

She really was lucky.

 

Tam kisses her scars, but never asks anything about them. Yet, Steph can always tell that she notices when there are new ones; it's in her face, the same expression she had on when Steph woke her up that morning.

It's the same reason why Steph doesn't stay.

It's the fear that something you love might not be there when you return.

Tam deals with by always being nice and supportive, not questioning, not fighting, with kisses and sweetness because she knows that they were strange people, people who took risks everyday for a broken city.

Steph deals with it by leaving, because it hurts less than being left behind.

 

“Stay.” Tam says,in a soft voice. “Stay the morning.”

Steph can't bring herself to say no. She watches as the other woman closes her eyes, and wonders what she is dreaming about.

 

She watches Tam waking up, and for a moment she is taken by this supernatural panic that Tam won't remember that why Steph is still there and somehow, everything will fall apart because this the life of Stephanie Brown in relationships. She ruined things. Things-ruiner Stephanie Brown.

“Are you freaking out?” Tam asks, looking and sounding really sleepy.

“Yeah,right!” Steph replies, too loud to fool anyone. “I'm Batgirl. I don't freak out.”

Tam smiles.

“Of course. I forgot.” She says, yawning. “Thanks for this.”

They don't say anything for a minute and for a minute or two, the room filled only with the sound of them breathing in and out, and Stephanie Brown was never really good with silence, but this felt good in a way that it never felt with anybody else.

It was strange how natural this was for Steph, dating her ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. Because when she stopped fighting it, when she wasn't trying to flee in the morning, when she allowed herself just to be Stephanie Brown, Batgirl, student and Tam's girlfriend, it was really easy to be happy with her life.

“So.” Tam breaks the silence but doesn't look away. “How about some waffles?”

Yeah, she was totally happy with her life.


End file.
